Can Labor Market Policies Reduce Deaths of Despair?

Dow, William H.; Godøy, Anna Aasen; Lowenstein, Christopher; Reich, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2020.102372

Cited by 72 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…To alleviate worsening economic insecurity, the new administration could increase the federal minimum wage-as advocated for in President Biden's new $1.9 trillion economic recovery package announced January 14-and permanently expand the EITC, both of which have been shown to reduce morbidity and mortality among working-age adults. 10 The EITC has long had bipartisan support, and public support for minimum wage increases has increased in both red and blue states in recent years. Permanent expansions of the Child Tax Credit and policies that provide more supports to parents and informal caregivers are other mechanisms that can ease financial insecurity.…”

Section: Social Policy As Health Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Declining Life Expectancy in the United States

Venkataramani

O’Brien

Tsai

2021

JAMA

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Even before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic occurred, the US was mired in a 40-year population health crisis. Since 1980, life expectancy in the US has increasingly fallen behind that of peer countries, culminating in an unprecedented decline in longevity since 2014. 1 Life expectancy at birth in the US in 1980 was 73.6 years, in 2014 was 78.9 years, and in 2018 was 78.7 years. These long-standing trends have been driven by increasing mortality among working-age adults, specifically those of lower socioeconomic status. While working-age adults with a 4-year college degree have experienced gains in life expectancy, those with only a high school diploma have experienced a decline. 2 Similarly, the gap in longevity between the top and bottom 5% of the household earnings distribution has increased by 2.6 years from 2001 to 2014, with life expectancies at 40 years of age in these 2 groups of 79.7 and 89.4 years, respectively, in 2014. 3 At the same time, differences in longevity continue to be pronounced across racial and ethnic groups, led by elevated rates of mortality among Black and American Indian adults. 1 The persistent widening of socioeconomic gradients in life expectancy, even as per capita expenditures on health care have increased substantially, suggest that social and economic forces are likely to be the central drivers of the decline in US life expectancy.

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Section: Social Policy As Health Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Declining Life Expectancy in the United States

Venkataramani

O’Brien

Tsai

2021

JAMA

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“…Our finding that EIP was not associated with improved mental health is in line with previous studies that found no reductions in mental health symptoms after cash transfers 13 and provision of EITCs. 8 11 It may be that the EIP only provides a brief stimulus but does not have enduring mental health benefits. Two recent studies using data from the Household Pulse Survey found that receipt of unemployment insurance and other support programmes that may have provided longer-term income support during the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with better mental health and fewer unmet social needs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some studies have found these programmes can reduce symptoms of mental illness and non-drug-related suicides and improve subjective well-being, 8–10 while other studies report no impact on general health, mental health, substance abuse or health behaviour outcomes. 8 11 Several experimental studies of negative income tax programmes in the 1960s–1980s in the USA and Canada were also inconclusive and collected little empirical data on mental health outcomes. 12 …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Prospective association between receipt of the economic impact payment and mental health outcomes

Tsai

Huang

Rajan

et al. 2021

J Epidemiol Community Health

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BackgroundThe Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act of 2020 provided ‘economic impact payments’ (EIPs) of $1200 to US adults with annual personal income of $75 000 or less. This study examined the prospective association between EIP receipt and mental health outcomes.MethodsA nationally representative sample of 3169 middle-income and low-income US adults completed a baseline assessment of their health and well-being in May–June 2020 and a 3-month follow-up assessment during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic when EIPs were distributed.ResultsControlling for sociodemographic characteristics, EIP recipients had higher odds of reporting a positive COVID-19 test, endorsing a history of post-traumatic stress disorder and reporting any illicit drug use in the past month than participants who did not receive EIP. Participants who did not receive EIP were more likely to report a history of anxiety disorder or alcohol use disorder and recent suicidal ideation than EIP recipients. There was no association between EIP receipt and financial distress, although over one-third to over half of EIP recipients were not employed at baseline. Between baseline and 3-month follow-up, receipt of EIP was significantly associated with reduced medical conditions and alcohol use problems, but increased depression, suicidal ideation and COVID-19 era-related stress.ConclusionThe EIP provided a brief income stimulus to many adults in need but was not associated with improvements in financial distress or mental health among middle-income and low-income recipients. Long-term income security and employment may be more important to improving and sustaining positive mental health outcomes.

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“…Quasi-experimental research shows that increasing individual income through rises in the minimum wage and in-work social security payments leads to lower deaths of despair (Dow et al 2020). Places do appear to have an impact on health outcomes, including mortality rates (Deryugina et al 2020;Jivraj et al 2020).…”

Section: Individual Vs Place-based Prosperity and Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Familiar Faces, Worn Out Places: The Effect of Personal and Place Prosperity On Well-Being

Sandher¹

2022

Preprint

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Higher rates of income inequality are correlated with lower average well-being across different domains (such as health, financial security, friendship etc.) across nations. It is unclear, however, whether this pattern is driven by income differences between people or if places also play a role. In this paper, I test this by constructing a Se- nian Capability Index of well-being and then testing the relative role of personal and place-based prosperity on its domains using linked individual-area data. I find that while personal income has the strongest link to well-being domains, places also also have a significant, non-uniform, association as well. These effects differ between the labour market and neighbourhood level spatial scales. Local labour market prosperity gives its residents higher potential incomes and is associated with greater financial se- curity and more friends. Moving to a more prosperous labour market also indirectly improves well-being by increasing potential incomes. Neighbourhood prosperity is as- sociated with greater overall well-being, physical security, and a lower probability of death. These results suggest that policies aimed at improving personal and place-based characteristics are needed to create a “good life” for all citizens.

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Can Labor Market Policies Reduce Deaths of Despair?

Cited by 72 publications

References 41 publications

Declining Life Expectancy in the United States

Declining Life Expectancy in the United States

Prospective association between receipt of the economic impact payment and mental health outcomes

Familiar Faces, Worn Out Places: The Effect of Personal and Place Prosperity On Well-Being

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